Summary: Draco was too exhausted to fully handle what he walked into. Why did Scorpius' room smell like fish?

Rated: K

Genre: Family

Competition/Challenge Block:
Written For: Monthly Challenges for All (Year 3); Hogwarts (Term 14)

Hogwarts: Ravenclaw; A.8 - Celtic Studies #10: Write a fic prominently featuring a childhood pet.

MC4A: Sp Bingo (3D-Walking); Chimera; Link; Star (Pocky Pockets); Fence (Machismo); BAON (Nontraditional; Sneeze Weasel; Teat Juice); ICs (In a Flash (Y); The Story Goes On (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Green Ribbon (Y); Zed Era (Y); Medic MC; Slytherin MC; Ravenclaw MC; Old Shoes (Y); Not the Mama; Human Companion

Word Count: 680

Caught by the Tail

It was another exhausting day at the hospital. Draco knew that the senior Healer he was assigned under was one of the toughest out there, but even with that knowledge, he greatly underestimated Healer Jason Hale. He hoped Scorpius was okay being alone with Dizzy the house-elf all day, knowing that he tried all of his friend channels to try and avoid it to no avail. Everyone was out of town on vacation, which made sense since it was summer, and it only made Draco feel worse; he wasn't able to do something similar with Scorpius because of his new job.

He did still wonder why his son declined going with the Potters to… well Draco couldn't remember where they went or what Scorpius said because his mind was so fried. Trudging through the foyer, he headed straight for the kitchen to see what Dizzy had prepared for supper. The place was relatively quiet, which wasn't extremely out of the ordinary considering only two people and an elf resided inside the manor. It was another thing he considered changing, finding somewhere more modest and suitable for them and less overwhelming. Less… haunted with memories.

Giving his head a shake, he reached the kitchen and was deflated in seeing nothing prepared anywhere, not even the ice box. Too tired to even bother calling Dizzy, he decided to flash cook some lemon and garlic fish only to not find a single piece of fish anywhere in the ice box.

Groaning, he settled on a simple meat sandwich and wandered the mansion to look for his son and Dizzy. Finally reaching Scorpius' room, and feeling only slightly more human with some food in him, he gave a knock on the door and waited a few seconds.

The mewing sounds that muffled through the door along with scrambling had him suspicious.

"Scorpius?" he called, tempted to investigate but didn't want to barge in.

"One moment!" he called back.

Dizzy answered the door a few seconds later, bowing as Draco entered, immediately scanning the room. "What have you two been up to?"

The scent of fish was something unexpected to smell in there, as well as the bowl of milk on the floor, but at least he knew where it all went. Only question is; why was it in his son's room?

"Oh, you know… Tutoring and homework," Scorpius quickly replied, shifting his weight.

"And the fishy smell?"

"We had dinner in here, Master Draco," Dizzy supplied, fidgeting her hands in front of her.

It was at that moment a small fluffy cat crawled out from under Scorpius' bed and jumped on the blankets on top, purring loudly and licking its lips. Draco looked at the multi-colored kitten happily licking its paw and grooming itself before slowly looking back to his son and Dizzy.

Scorpius' eyes went wide. "Please don't make me give Patches away! Dizzy found her stuck in the rose bushes by the fence, she was hurt and and we helped her. She was so skinny and cold so we gave her some—"

"Fish?" Draco finished, not realizing he had folded his arms in front of him.

He looked at the kitten again, still purring away and grooming herself on Scorpius' bed. She took notice of Draco and let out a gentle meow, tilting its head and staring at him with bright green eyes. Her face colors were split three ways; the left was black, the right a light orange, and the chin, jaw, neck, and belly were white. He could see where Scorpius got the name from immediately. Patches also sported four white feet, like she was wearing socks, and the rest of her was a mix of marbled black, orange, and white up her legs and back.

Letting out a deep sigh, Draco dropped his arms to his sides and moved toward the kitten. Scorpius remained rigid close by, watching his every move. He picked Patches up carefully, in which the kitten meowed again and headbutted his chin once she was close enough. Draco was smitten.

"Alright. You can keep Patches."